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Posts Tagged ‘holidays’
I might like Valentine’s Day a lot better if it came, say, in the middle of July when the weather is warm and I don’t have to put on twelve pounds of clothes just to go to the mailbox. But as it is, February is not my best month – it’s been cold and gray and dreary since November and while I know intellectually that in March things will begin to warm up enough for me to begin to believe Spring will really come, knowing and feeling in February are two entirely different things.
Nor am I the kind of female that gets all sappy. I’m not into the whole romantic comedy thing – I’ve never seen Sleepless in Seattle or You’ve Got Mail or Pretty Woman – and for the most part, love songs make me cringe. I read romance novels once in a blue moon, but when I do I usually find myself rolling my eyes and, occasionally, making fake barfing motions. If a man were to begin quoting romantic poetry to me, I’d be hard put not to giggle during the recitation.
Which is not to say that I don’t like being told that I’m loved and appreciated, or don’t like getting flowers or jewelry or being taken out for a nice meal, but I don’t like getting those things because greeting card and candy companies and florists say I should get those things. I want to receive those things because someone wants to give them to me.
Then there’s the small fact that I’m hard-headed stubborn an independent cuss and hate being told what to do. Oh, I HAVE to celebrate your manufactured holiday? Well, see this? It’s my butt. Kiss it.
That being said, Beloved and I usually observe Valentine’s Day in some fashion. Last year, we were out and about a couple of days before The Day at the Hartville Market (I’ll have to do a Travel Tip Thursday post about that place soon) and Beloved bought me the Precious Moments figurine you see here, along with another of the black-and-white retro Mickey Mouse statuettes by Jim Shore. Which was fine with me. Sometimes we go out to a nice restaurant on V-Day, but mostly I cook a special dinner for us, which is what I’ll do this year.
If you like all the hearts and flowers and romance, I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day this year, I really do. But if you’re like me, and find the fact that the local grocery store is offering “The Ultimate Stay-At-Home Romantic Dinner” for $25 (two dinky steaks and lobster tails in a heart-shaped container) absolutely hilarious, I’ll be more than happy to join you in the snickering.
For more optimistic Valentine’s Day posts, go visit Sprite’s Keeper and the Spin Cycle.
Oh, I just LOVE the holidays – don’t you just LOVE the holidays? The food, the decorations, the parties, the presents, the togetherness.
The stress.
I am up to my eyeballs in so many things right now, it’s not even funny. Well, okay, yes – it’s funny, given the right frame of mind, but I’m sorry to report I don’t have the right frame of mind because I do believe I lost it several days ago. (And yes, there’s the contingent that would claim I lost it a long time ago, but we’ll just ignore them for the time being if that’s all right with y’all. Or even if it isn’t.)
Anyhoo, I have more to do than I care to deal with, including our company holiday party tomorrow night to prepare for, getting ready to leave for Kalamazoo on Sunday, running The Young One to Cleveland so he can visit his paterfamilias for the holiday, and corporate sales taxes for about 30 states, so I’m excusing myself from blogging with any coherency whatsoever today.
Yes, it is too different from every other day. 
Have a lovely weekend, y’all.
This week for the Spin Cycle, Jen has tasked us with Holiday Baking.
I don’t bake and make candy for the holidays like I used to in the days when I couldn’t afford to buy “real” gifts (funny, but the gifts people seem to remember the most were those homemade ones). These days the only time I really do any cooking or baking for the holidays is when we have the annual holiday party for our employees, which we host in our home (and I hope they’ll be able to ignore the fact that I didn’t have the carpets cleaned before this year’s gala…’cause it’s a mess).
However, I have enough holiday recipes that it took me awhile to decide what I’d post. I have an absolute kick-ass fruitcake recipe, but it needs to age for at least six weeks (it’s routinely doused in Southern Comfort while it ages – you glow in the dark when you eat a piece), so I figured it was kind of late for that. I thought about my pumpkin bread, but then again most people have a great pumpkin bread recipe, even if it isn’t baked in a coffee can. I posted my peanut butter fudge recipe last year and didn’t want to recycle it, and everyone makes cookies. Then it occurred to me:
Amish Friendship Bread.
If you’ve never heard of this, you’re in for a treat. The version I make is not a yeasty-type bread that you’d run out and make a ham sandwich with, it’s more of a sweet quick bread. (Actually, if you want my opinion, it’s really a cake.) It is delicious: sweet and cinnamony with a wonderfully moist crumb.
I also have to warn you, if you’ve never heard of this, you’re going to start off loving me – it is damned good – and then probably end up hating me. Why? Well, one of the great things about Amish Friendship Bread is that not only can you give the baked goods to friends and family, but also a “starter” of the batter that will multiply for them to use, not only to bake this marvelous bread/cake, but also leave them with lots of starter to give to their friends, and so on and so on.
It’s like a happy little chain letter you bake in the oven.
The problem is, while your family will ask for this lovely dessert/quick bread/coffee cake on a regular basis (and if you keep up your starter, you’ll be able to make it on a regular basis), you’re going to sooner or later (and it will probably be sooner) run out of people to give the starter to. Which has always been my problem – I end up with starter for the bread running out of my ears, and eventually just pour it all down the drain.
HOWEVER, before I go on to the recipe, which includes the recipe for the starter, the instructions for tending the starter and giving it away, and the recipe for the final product, let me just say that I LOVE the internet because I have found instructions on how to tend just enough starter for personal use – no giving it away when your friends and family start to avoid you because they are drowning in vats of their own starter.
So, without further ado, Amish Friendship Bread. CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO MAINTAIN THE STARTER FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
NOTE: Do NOT use metal bowls or spoons. Mix the starter/batter in a glass bowl and stir only with a wood/silicone spoon or spatula. Also, do not refrigerate the starter. Yes, it is perfectly safe.
Amish Friendship Bread
makes 2 standard loaves or 1 Bundt pan cake, 2 cups of starter to give to friends and one cup to use for the next batch
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water – about 110° F
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk – about 110° F
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes. In a medium glass mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour. Gradually add the warm milk, whisking constantly to keep the mixture smooth; add the yeast/water and stir until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a gallon zip-lock bag; seal and leave it. This is Day 1. (When giving the starter and instructions to friends, make note that they do nothing with the bag on Day 1.)
Don’t be alarmed if the mixture bubbles after it’s been sitting on the counter for awhile; it’s supposed to.
Day 2: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 3: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 4: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 5: Add a cup of flour, a cup of sugar and a cup of milk to the bag. Seal; mush with your hands until well mixed. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 6: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 7: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 8: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 9: Mush the bag briefly with your hands. Walk away and forget about it.
Day 10: Add a cup of flour, a cup of sugar and a cup of milk to the bag. Seal; mush with your hands until well mixed.
You should now have 4 cups of starter; place 1 cup each into three 1 gallon zip-lock bags; seal and set aside – you will give two to friends, and keep the other for your next batch. Use the fourth cup for the bread you’ll make that day.
NOTE: When you give away the starter, make sure to include the instructions for tending the starter and baking the bread.
Amish Friendship bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1(6-serving size) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup starter
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar combined with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, divided
Preheat the oven to 350° F; grease two standard sized loaf pans or a 10-cup Bundt pan. Dust the inside of the pan(s) with about half of the sugar/cinnamon mixture; set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda; set aside.
In a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (except for the sugar/cinnamon mixture), mixing well. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing only until just combined; do not over-mix. Pour into the pan(s) and sprinkle with the remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes (the Bundt pan may take longer) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack; cool completely before slicing.